Our work on fin regeneration has helped establish the cellular origins of regenerated fin tissue, and it has identified new concepts and molecular mechanisms of appendage regeneration.
Thus, even in man, there are still similarities in the molecular regulation of skin appendages and bone.
Jiang, T., Stott, N., Widelitz, R. & Chuong, C. In Molecular basis of epithelial appendage morphogenesis (ed. Chuong, C. M.) 395 408 (Landes Bioscience, 1998).
Domestic pigeons have striking variation in foot feathering within a single species, providing a tractable model to investigate the molecular basis of skin appendage differences.
And even today pythons and boas have tiny leg bones inside their bodies, suggesting they have vestiges of the molecular pathway for building these appendages.
Taken as a whole, this study greatly broadens our understanding of the molecular processes in peripheral sensory appendages, and establishes an agnostic, quantitative data set that can be built upon by future research.
Molecular genetics of crustacean feeding appendage development and diversification.
Tanaka, E. M. The molecular and cellular choreography of appendage regeneration.
Future investigations of these appendages might productively combine molecular biology, development, ecology and evolution in both barbeled and non-barbeled fishes.
Furthermore, the molecular and cellular developmental mechanisms of appendages and organs in vertebrates are similar and highly conserved to urodele amphibians.
For example, the amphibian perspective is essential for understanding molecular, developmental, and morphological changes of appendages that are associated with the transformation of obligatorily aquatic fish to terrestrial tetrapods [ 1- 4].
